Our Clean Energy Economy

Climate change is our nation’s greatest challenge—left unaddressed, it will have devastating impacts on our economy, our environment, and our communities and families. The good news is that addressing this challenge presents a tremendous opportunity to grow our economy and increase our shared prosperity.

The economic analysis confirms that transitioning to clean energy isn’t just good for the environment—it is also a key to job creation and to ensuring a prosperous economic future for our country.

This transition has already begun, particularly in the power sector. Energy efficiency is increasing, renewable energy production is booming, and obsolete coal-fired power plants are retiring. The result is less pollution and more jobs. At the same time, as jobs shift from coal to clean energy some workers and communities will be adversely affected. To help them adapt we need to provide dedicated new resources for economic diversification, job creation, job training and other employment services for workers and communities affected by job losses at coal mines and coal-fired power plants. The transition to clean energy will strengthen our economy and increase America’s prosperity—fairness requires that we ensure workers and communities affected by the transition are able to share in the benefits.

This report does not take into account the negative impacts that climate change will have on our economy, and so understates the economic benefits of a transition to clean energy. Information on the damages from climate change continues to become more alarming—recently a team of leading researchers released a new estimate that inaction on climate change will reduce the United States’ GDP 36 percent by the end of the century. This follows a Citigroup report that estimates failure to act on climate change will result in $44 trillion worth of lost global GDP by 2060. Failing to address climate change is an option we simply cannot afford.

E3’s report, which is the foundation of the ICF economic analysis, examines the technical feasibility of achieving an 80% greenhouse gas emission reduction below 1990 levels by 2050. Using the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 2013 Annual Energy Outlook as a basis for the Reference case, study authors developed multiple pathways to a clean energy economy. While alternative pathways employed clean energy technologies in varying combinations, they all rest on three basic pillars: energy efficiency, decarbonization of electricity, and switching from fossil fuels to clean electricity or other lower-carbon energy sources. The study concludes that there are multiple ways to use existing commercial or near-commercial technologies to provide the energy services our economy will demand in 2050 with 80% less carbon emissions our economy produced in 1990. The E3 Pathways report demonstrates that it is possible to achieve a clean energy economy by 2050; today’s report by ICF shows the positive economic outcomes this necessary transition would bring for workers, families, and our nation as a whole.

In both the “High Renewables” and “Mixed” cases, E3 has calculated that approximately 60% of our nation’s electricity can come from clean and carbon-free electricity sources by 2030, putting our nation on a pathway to a completely clean energy economy by 2050. Doing so will create millions of jobs, increase household income and raise GDP.

We have the solutions today for a cleaner, stronger America—we can transition to a clean energy economy largely with existing technology that is currently on the market. Even more, if we do not reduce our carbon emissions, the consequences of climate change will be dire for both our economy and our health. But, as this new report demonstrates, investing in clean energy will boost our economy and create quality jobs while reducing our carbon emissions and averting the worst impacts of climate change. Investing in clean energy is the right choice—for our economy, our country, and our planet.

To access the full economic analysis presentation from ICF click here*, and for a brief summary of findings, please click here*.